star trek prodigy dauntless

USS Dauntless (NCC-80816)

The USS Dauntless (NCC-80816) was a Federation Dauntless -class starship operated by Starfleet in the late 24th century .

• 1 Service history
• 2 Command crew
• 3.1 See also
• 3.2 Appearances
• 3.3 Background information
• 3.4 External links

Service history [ ]

In 2384 , under the command of Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway , the Dauntless was tasked with locating the missing USS Protostar . ( PRO : " A Moral Star, Part 2 ")

The crew first tracked the proto-warp signature of the Protostar to Tars Lamora , where they found the Diviner in stasis within the abandoned prison colony . ( PRO : " Asylum ")

The Dauntless then tracked the Protostar to communication relay station CR-721 , where the crew were shocked to discover it destroyed with no signs of survivors. Knowing that the Protostar 's Captain Chakotay would never commit such an act, Janeway surmised that someone else was in control of the Protostar . ( PRO : " Let Sleeping Borg Lie ")

Intercepting the Protostar

Following the trail of CR-721's sole crew member, Lieutenant jg Barniss Frex , brought the Dauntless to Denaxi Depot , where their away team chanced upon the Protostar crew. The Protostar fled the planet and entered the Romulan Neutral Zone after its protostar drive was disabled by a photon torpedo fired by the Dauntless . Confronted by three Romulan D'deridex -class warbirds , the Dauntless was unable to pursue. Janeway was ordered to destroy the protostar drive at long range with microtorpedoes rather than allow the technology to be captured by the Romulans , but this proved to be unnecessary. ( PRO : " Crossroads ", " Masquerade ")

The Dauntless resumed its pursuit and was able to merge its warp field with the Protostar 's. The Dauntless shot several phaser shots at the Protostar , but were unable to penetrate its shield. It caused Zero to inadvertently switch consciousness between Admiral Janeway and R'El. Janeway and R'El were able to switch back to their bodies before they were stopped by a Starfleet armada. During this time, Ensign Asencia revealed herself as a Vau N'Akat time traveler and boarded the Protostar . After subduing the crew, Ascencia contacted the Dauntless and activated the living construct . The construct was able to infect the Dauntless . forcing it to attack the other ships in Starfleet's armada. The Dauntless ' universal translators were also taken offline by the construct as it spread to the rest of the armada. Fortunately, the Dauntless and other ships were freed from the construct's corruption when Hologram Janeway destroyed the Protostar . ( PRO : " Mindwalk ", " Supernova, Part 1 ", " Supernova, Part 2 ")

Later that year, Janeway, Tysess and Dr. Noum transferred from the Dauntless to the Lamarr -class USS Voyager -A to rescue Captain Chakotay. ( PRO : " Into the Breach, Part I ") Tysess and Noum remained aboard Voyager under Chakotay's command after the successful mission and the defeat of Asencia while Janeway intended to take an early retirement before the Attack on Mars brought her back to Starfleet. ( PRO : " Ouroboros, Part II ")

Command crew [ ]

• Kathryn Janeway ( 2384 )
• Tysess (2384)
• Noum (2384)
• The Doctor (2384)
• Tuvok (2384)
• Chu'lak (2384)
• Asencia (2384)
• B'Elanna Torres (2384)

See also: USS Dauntless personnel

Appendices [ ]

See also [ ].

• USS Dauntless (NX-01-A)

Appearances [ ]

• " A Moral Star, Part 2 "
• " Let Sleeping Borg Lie "
• " All the World's a Stage "
• " Crossroads "
• " Masquerade "
• " Preludes "
• " Ghost in the Machine "
• " Mindwalk "
• " Supernova, Part 1 "
• " Supernova, Part 2 "

Background information [ ]

The USS Dauntless (NCC-80816) commanded by Admiral Janeway in Prodigy shares its name and elements of its design with a ship that was posing as a Starfleet ship in VOY : " Hope and Fear ". Producer Aaron Waltke tweeted confirming that Prodigy 's Dauntless is separate but inspired by the original and was nicknamed "Dauntless 2" around the office. [1]

External links [ ]

• USS Dauntless (NCC-80816) at StarTrek.com
• USS Dauntless (NCC-80816) at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 1 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)
• 3 Daniels (Crewman)

Den of Geek

Star Trek: Prodigy’s Twist Ending Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means

That last scene has Star Trek fans buzzing but Prodigy’s showrunners clarify what's really going on.

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Warning: This article contains huge spoilers for Star Trek: Prodigy’s ‘A Moral Star Part 2.’

Well, well, that final scene from the mid-season finale of Star Trek: Prodigy certainly came out of nowhere. Everything seemed like it was winding down to an intriguing yet satisfying place to leave the show when, BAM. The Dauntless! Yes, our final scene of Prodigy for a while has the real life Janeway commanding the U.S.S. Dauntless NCC-80816, ready to track down the Protostar. What makes this ending such a huge twist is that this isn’t the first time we’ve heard of a ship called Dauntless. In fact, the Dauntless has a history with the real Janeway and her former crew.

In Star Trek: Voyager’s fourth season finale, ‘Hope and Fear,’ the ship were lead by an alien named Arturis to the NX-01A Dauntless. A vessel supposedly sent by Starfleet into the Delta Quadrant, the ship had an experimental quantum slipstream drive which would have allowed the crew to get home much faster. By the end of the episode however it was revealed that the ship was an elaborate fake, intended to lure the Voyager crew into Borg space by Arturis as revenge for their alliance with the Collective.

The original Dauntless was seemingly captured by the Borg at the end of that episode, though we never technically saw it’s final fate. Regardless, the appearance of the ship in Star Trek : Prodigy may send fans scrambling to decipher what this could mean. Did Janeway somehow retrieve the fake Dauntless? Was Arturis, whose species was only referred to as Species 116 by Seven of Nine, actually a Val N’Akat?

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Prodigy showrunners Kevin and Dan Hageman both emphatically state that this ship isn’t the original Dauntless but the “Dauntless 2” as they personally refer to it.

“Starfleet took the technology from the Dauntless and then created an actual starship,” Kevin Hageman states. He says that that Starfleet took what had been a fake ship constructed by Arturis and made a real version of it.

Both Hageman’s also clarify that the slipstream tech we saw in ‘Hope and Fear’ is also not the same as the proto-drive in Prodigy. They weren’t clear if the new Dauntless has a slipstream drive, since at the end of the episode the real Janeway tells her new crew to take her to the proto-drive signature they detected at “maximum warp.” In ‘Hope and Fear’ the slipstream drive wasn’t functional in the long term and later attempts to use it were dicey at best. Still, perhaps slipstream speeds are now integrated into the traditional Trek warp speeds.

The two also make it clear that the Val N’Akat are completely different from Species 116, Dan Hageman categorically stating “there’s no Val N’akat in Voyager.”

He also takes the opportunity to shoot down the theories that Chakotay is Drednok or The Diviner in disguise.

Dan Hageman simply hints that fans are “digging in the wrong place.”

It’s all for the better that the Val N’akat aren’t related to Species 116, since the timeline of events wouldn’t match up with what we’d seen in Voyager . There the species’ home world had already been conquered around 2374 by the Borg whereas The Diviner seemed to indicate that the Val N’akat home world was still around during 2383, the year Prodigy takes place in.

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This still leaves fans with a lot of questions but knowing that Starfleet damn near copied the fake Dauntless leaves a lot of fascinating places for Prodigy to explore when it returns.

Shamus Kelley | @ShamusWrites

For more from Shamus including original TV scripts visit www.ShamusKelley.com. He’s been a TV writer since 2009 when he created and executive produced the 21 JSR…

• by Shamus Kelley
• Den of Geek

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It’s a really fun non-Federation locale full of interesting ships and characters. Gwyn has a run in with a shady Klingon, the security guards are Xindi-Reptilians, and Frex tells his tale to a Kazon traveler. They make really good use out of the setting being an “ice planet,” adding to the dangerous feel of the place as ships are grounded from the storm. Dal and company bury the Protostar in the ice and snow, which makes for a really cool escape later on — and both the Protostar and the Dauntless crews look the part in very stylish, and surely very functional, cold-weather outfits that are just yearning to be cosplayed.

Outrageously, the first person our crew meets is one Thadiun Okona — a character who was introduced 34 years ago in  The Next Generation’s “The Outrageous Okona.” Billy Campbell reprises his role here, delightfully updating the character from merry, misunderstood chaos-agent to hardened smuggler who has seen things.

His slightly more gravelly voice meshes well with the updated character design, and this almost-Riker — Campbell famously came close to being cast as Picard’s Number One — is still dreamy, though obviously weathered by the passage of time: with a similar outfit (with the addition of a slight paunch), stylishly grey hair, a mysterious eye patch. It’s a great look.

What an excellent idea to include Okona here. He could have just been an original character, but when you are playing with a bench as deep as Star Trek’s, why not use it? Including Okona is pure inside-baseball fun and is a statement that literally anyone in the Trek universe is on the table for a return. Truly outrageous!

They don’t get too far hitching a ride with Okona, though, as he is immediately busted for smuggling. The gang tries their luck elsewhere, and we are treated to some face-to-face meetings between the crews. These are well choreographed encounters, as they manage to make it believable that our Protostar kids don’t tell the Starfleet officers about the weapon.

Gwyn gets spooked that Ensign Asencia knows her name — and her father — so she bolts. In true Tellarite form, Jankom gets distracted trading insults with Dr. Noum. Dal is star struck by Admiral Janeway, and before he can even get the words out Barniss Frex is found and Dal hides from him, knowing Frex can identify him. A great moment, interrupted: Dal’s meeting with the “real” Janeway is lovely as he is nervous for the chance, and we get to hear Admiral Janeway give him some great advice before her crew brings her Frex.

Frix gives Janeway his description of the assailants on CR-721 and she recognizes Dal. As the Protostar crew try to leave undetected, Janeway spots them and admonishes Frex for not mentioning they were children.

Admiral Janeway gets security to secure the facility, but the Protostar crew escapes on a speeder right as the doors close. The chase has everything: crashing ships, a stowaway, a speed boost by a illegal substance, and even a jump over a crevasse! They make their way back to the Protostar (with Okona aboard for the ride), and take off just in time for Admiral Janeway to watch… and then the chase takes to the stars.

The Dauntless chases after the Protostar , matching their high speed, and Admiral Janeway is determined to disable the ship. Hologram Janeway, getting up to speed after being offline, says “The real me is hunting us with a quantum slipstream Dauntless -class starship? Good luck with that!,” which broke the tension and got a huge laugh at my house.

It seems like the Dauntless has the upper hand until Okona mentions that they are close to the Neutral Zone. Holo Janeway says no way, but they really have no choice if they want to save the Federation from the living construct. Holo Janeway gives a good little explanation about what the Neutral Zone is, and it’s a simple concept for the kids at home to understand, even if they aren’t well versed on Federation-Romulan politics: a forbidden zone.

That’s made even more explicit on the Dauntless, as a Romulan shows up to warn Janeway about it. The addition of Romulans to this show was unexpected, yet very welcome. Janeway wants to go ahead, but her first officer, Commander Tysess, disagrees. I’m already a huge Tysess fan, based on what little we’ve seen of this character so far. Daveed Diggs gives an almost regal performance, and it’s so telling of his character that he’s willing to call out Admiral Janeway for thinking with her heart — instead of her head.

He has an air of Tuvok about him — practical and thoughtful — and we know how special Janeway’s bond with Tuvok is. Janeway has always shown that she can appreciate candor like this and I hope we get to explore this character and his relationship with Admiral Janeway more.

Even with the excitement of the chase, however, the main event — at least as far as my kids were concerned — was finally unfolding on the Protostar bridge: Murf hatching out of his cocoon. He emerges as a blob that is more humanoid in form, complete with appendages and a head with an adorable little blob antenna/pigtail on top. He’s still cute, but gives off a little bit of uncanny valley (compared to his distinctly non-humanoid previous slug form).

My kids took this development very seriously. When Murf emerged, my son requested we pause the show so that we could talk about it. Reviews were mixed: my go-with-the-flow 9-year old declared that she liked new Murf better and was happy for him. My two older kids, who are generally more adverse to change, were a little more hesitant about it. One of them was, honestly, actually pretty upset by it: she misses the old Murf, and has mentioned it several times since we watched.

It’s for kids like my older two in particular why I really like the choice to evolve Murf. Adapting to a change like this will be good for them. It’s a bold move; Murf is one of the most universally-loved aspects of this new era of Trek, and change is hard — but also inevitable. What better way to teach that than through the evolution of a character they love?

At the end of “Let Sleeping Borg Lie,” Holo Janeway tells Dal that he is growing, and he gives her a “resistance is futile” back. That’s true for the fact that my kids are growing up, too. Murf can grow up with them, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of Murf’s next stage — and beyond.

All three kids did laugh at Murf, unsteady on his new legs, accidentally launching a torpedo at the Dauntless . They will adapt to the change, and “new” Murf’s mistake was a fun contrast to original-Murf accidentally firing the phasers in “Lost and Found.” Murf’s “toddler” stage is going to be a handful!

CREATOR INSIGHTS

We had the opportunity to ask series creators Kevin and Dan Hageman , along with director Ben Hibon , about some of the developments in this episode back at New York Comic Con in early October.

Jankom Pog meets his first “other” Tellarite this week, Dr. Noum of the  Dauntless , and we wanted to know about the differences in character design.

BEN HIBON: “Well I mean we wanted him to have a bit of a revelation, right?”   KEVIN HAGEMAN: “He doesn’t quite remember other Tellarites; he thought they were all small and short like him.”   DAN HAGEMAN: “And he finds out he’s the runt of the litter, which kind of chips away at his ego!”   BEN HIBON: “I think it’s interesting to have such variations and differences within species as well, to expand on that. And I think it’s, it’s, it is like that. So why not doing it rather than just being totally stylized.”   DAN HAGEMAN: “ It’s like diversity within diversity.”

Regarding Murf’s new look:

KEVIN HAGEMAN: “We thought it would be interesting so see a creature who is constantly evolving.”   DAN HAGEMAN: “I would love to someday for Murf to be like a six-foot-tall humanoid character. You know what I mean? I would love to see Murf continue to grow.”

Prodigy co-executive producer and Season 2 co-head writer Aaron Waltke also shared some thoughts on “new” Murf with us, and where things may go from here:

“We don’t know much about Mellanoid slime worms. The reason we thought to have Murf go through his own ‘meta-Murf-osis’ was that he, like the rest of them, is going through changes and growing up. I suppose it was a kid-friendly way to deal with puberty, among other things.   We want the characters to grow and change with our audiences. They’re growing up. You’ll see how Murf continues to evolve, not just physically, but as a member of the crew.”

Waltke also discussed the return of the Xindi-Reptilians, a fun surprise for  Star Trek: Enterprise fans.

“I think there’s a lot of Enterprise fans out there that were like, ‘Well, what happened to the Xindi?’   Everybody on the Xindi council but the Reptilians are basically like, ‘Yeah, we’ll probably join the Federation at some point.” But the Reptilians, they just leave it on this sort of question mark note of, ‘Well, I hope they come around.”   I think here, we kind of imply that even if the Reptilians themselves decided to never join the Federation, they’re a bit like the Klingons, I suppose, where you could see that there’s is a little bit of a cooperation there when Vice Admiral Janeway says she wants to speak to head of security.”

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

• Parked in the ice and snow, the Protostar resembles Voyager in “Timeless,” after its crash-landing in the icy tundra.
• Rok-Tahk tries her hand at meteorology and tries to predict the arrival of the storm — but it appears that even in the 24th century, weather prediction remains “not an exact science”.
• Beyond his debut in “The Outrageous Okona,” the character of Thadiun Okona also appeared in  Lower Decks’ “An Embarrassment of Dooplers,” manning the DJ booth at Starfleet’s annual command party.”
• Okona’s character design, which now includes an eye patch, originated for Star Trek: Prodigy — the  Lower Decks animation team changed their character design to align to Prodigy’s portrayal, which was designed first.

• Okona’s ship, the freighter  Erstwhile , was faithfully recreated from the original studio model built for  The Next Generation .
• My kids and I audibly squealed at Rok-Tahk carrying the Murf cocoon in a futuristic BabyBjörn . Just adorable!
• Janeway borrows another captain’s famous line — as she tells Dal that in Starfleet, they “make it so.”
• The music when Janeway and Dal meet face to face is heavily inspired by the Voyager theme. From composer Nami Melumad, Prodigy’s epic score continues to be a big part of the cinematic quality of the show, and it’s especially strong during the exciting action in “Crossroads”.
• The Xindi-Reptilian species returns for the first time since  Star Trek: Enterprise Season 4, when Captain Archer hallucinated the threating alien race while camping in “Home.” They were, of course, the leaders of the anti-Earth crusade in Enterprise Season 3, and in Prodigy we get to hear their language spoken aloud for the first time.

“Crossroads” is an episode of high intensity, both in action and emotion. It gives a very satisfying push towards the next phase in the main story by bringing both crews together, and introduces a very intriguing wrinkle with the Romulans and the Neutral Zone. The Murf storyline might end up being divisive, but change is part of life — and I love that theme being introduced here for the kids.

We’re all looking forward to seeing what other changes await as the rest of the season unfurls!

Star Trek: Prodigy will return with “Masquerade” on Thursday, November 24 on Paramount+ in the United States, and on November 25 in Latin America, Australia, Italy and the U.K. The series will arrive in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria in December.

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Interview: ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Writers Talk Body Swaps, Janeways, And What’s Driving The Diviner

| December 17, 2022 | By: Laurie Ulster 10 comments so far

Thursday’s episode of  Star Trek: Prodigy , “Mindwalk,” brought the Protostar nose-to-nose with the Dauntless, where an attempt to communicate telepathically with Admiral Janeway (who’s been stuffed in a closet after being knocked out by The Diviner) results in a body swap between Janeway and Dal.

TrekMovie had the opportunity to send questions via email to the writing/co-producing team of (sisters) Julie Benson and Shawna Benson. Their written answers covered the inspiration for the mind swap, the motivation driving both Asencia and the Diviner, the differences between Admiral Janeway and Holo Janeway, and more.

Body swapping is a classic Star Trek (and sci-fi) trope; was there always a plan to do this on Prodigy at some point ( like Chad Quandt wanting to do a holodeck episode ), or was it something you came up with to get communication going between the two ships?

The body swap trope appears often in sci-fi and fantasy and we love many of the films and TV shows that have done it well, most notably the original version of Freaky Friday , which was a favorite of ours growing up. No matter how much we love an idea we never try to shoehorn it into a story. When we started mapping out the second half of season 1, we knew that a big theme was about communication—or, in the case with the Protostar and Dauntless crews the lack of communication. How could Dal and the others successfully contact the Dauntless without the Living Construct being unleashed? It’s only in that moment of desperation when they are staring down the nose of the Dauntless and after the crew knows Dal’s genetic makeup that the idea of trying to reach Admiral Janeway through telepathy presents itself. Unfortunately, things don’t go to plan…

Was there a particular body swap episode of Trek (or something else) that inspired you?

There have been very few Freaky Friday -style body swap episodes in Trek lore as most are a variation of mind melds (like in TNG’s “Sarek”) or possession by an entity, but not an actual body swap. The closest version we could name was “Turnabout Intruder,” when one of Kirk’s exes takes over his body and tries to kill him in her body. (Sidenote: it’s pure coincidence that S tar Trek: Strange New Worlds honored the trope in their first season with “Spock Amok.”)

So we were more inspired by our love for the TV series Quantum Leap which has been rebooted since we wrote the episode. In fact, our original title for this episode was “Quantum Leap!” But beyond Star Trek the trope comes up often, because it is rich for humor and gives actors a chance to do something a little different with their characters.

The scene with Holo Janeway and Admiral Janeway (in Dal’s body) was so poignant; how did you think about the two of them as distinct characters as you wrote that scene? What makes their personalities different?

It’s an important moment for both characters. Each Janeway has burning questions for the other, but not much time to catch up. Not to mention, Holo Janeway is questioning a lot after learning she’s been under the influence of the Living Construct and needs a confidence boost, so who better to provide it than the one person who knows her better than anyone? Admiral Janeway gets a chance to do something most of us wish we could do—impart wisdom on her younger self.

The writers spent a lot of time discussing every character’s arc for the season, including Hologram Janeway. We never wanted her to be a static, unchanging character, and it wouldn’t be consistent with what Star Trek has done with hologram characters in the past, most notably Professor Moriarty in TNG and the EMH Doctor in Voyager . It would be impossible for our young crew to not have some effect on her! Holo Janeway represents the Janeway everyone remembers from Voyager , but she’s a pure distillation of her character traits, and dealing with some memory loss. But the real Admiral Janeway has continued to accrue memories and experiences, and the loss of Captain Chakotay affects her greatly and she’s driven to find him. Holo Janeway with an assist from the Protostar logs is the only way the Admiral can discover what really happened to her former first officer.

Holo Janeway and Admiral Janeway have a heart-to-heart

Writing Dal’s dialogue for Kate Mulgrew and Janeway’s dialogue for Brett Gray must have been a blast; what was the process like, and were there any surprises with how it played out in the final episode?

Unfortunately, the pandemic prevented us from attending recording sessions, but we know that Kate and Brett recorded each other’s lines as a reference for emulating each other’s vocal quirks and cadences. They are both superlative actors and we appreciate the work they put into their performances. The results speak for themselves.

There are a lot of physical cues to the body swap, was that scripted or from the director and animators?

A few physical gags were scripted (like Dal/Janeway spitting out coffee), but most of the credit goes to our director Sung Shin and the artists and animators who really sold the body swap concept with those physical cues. It’s a joy to watch Dal’s awkward walk in Janeway’s body while Janeway’s poise and elegance is captured in Dal’s movements. And we are in awe of Nami [Melumad]’s score for the episode, which balances the silly with serious so perfectly. Everyone who worked on this episode, including the rest of the writers, had fun with it, but not so much as to undercut the very important emotional moments of the story.

Dal tries to fake it as Janeway

What does Asencia think has happened to Admiral Janeway? Why doesn’t she just shoot her when they meet in her quarters? And wasn’t she tipped off when the Admiral asked her how to contact the Protostar without comms, presuming she knows exactly how the weapon works?

As far as Asencia knows, Janeway’s odd behavior is the result of knocking her out. Maybe The Diviner hit the Admiral harder than she realized? But she keeps The Diviner’s warning in mind. Killing Janeway would prevent them from completing their mission. So, she keeps her emotions in check, but clearly was ready to act if Janeway called her out for the attack she suffered. When the Admiral doesn’t immediately point a finger at Asencia, she returns her focus to catching up with the Protostar to complete her mission rather than assessing Admiral Janeway’s odd behavior.

Why did The Diviner say he was freeing Janeway as part of his mission? Is he feeling conflicted about his mission?

The Diviner’s actions in the first half of the season are so ruthless and cruel, no one would mistake him as having real empathy or depth of feeling. But if he really were so evil, he wouldn’t be so passionate about saving Solum from disaster. His deep love for the Vau N’Akat has driven him to his darkness.

The Diviner’s memory loss after seeing Zero’s true form has given The Diviner the ability to see Starfleet and the Federation in a new light, free of his own trauma and baggage. He’s very aware that Admiral Janeway saved his life when she rescued him from Tars Lamora and she’s treated him with kindness and respect while he’s been recovering. So, while he now remembers his mission, he’s conflicted about the impact it will have on the people who have shown him real compassion. He feels that he owes Janeway his life, so he helps her when she most needs that assistance.

But there’s a bigger reason he helps Janeway—Gwyn. Whether he knew it consciously or not, the Diviner does love his daughter. You may have noticed it is Asencia who calls her ‘progeny’ when the Diviner refers to Gwyn as his daughter. His relationship to Gwyn has changed because he can finally see her as something other than a means to an end. And now that he has connected with her emotionally, her safety is as important to him as his mission.

The Diviner frees Dal/Janeway, to his great surprise

We were a bit confused by why the proto-drive is offline, as they repaired it two episodes ago; what happened to it?

Ah, the Living Construct strikes again! Just as that program has maneuvered the Protostar out of the Romulan Neutral Zone, it intends to keep anyone from changing its course. The crew are essentially locked out of all the ship controls at this point and are at the mercy of the Living Construct.

Intrigued by the fact that you are a writing team and you’re sisters! Can you describe your process when you write together?

Lots of screaming, shouting, fighting—just kidding! We are fortunate in that we have our own mini writers’ room together. We live and die by the best idea wins, and if we are married to an idea, we can fight for it. But honestly, we share so many of the same references, it’s easy to complete each other’s sentences. We break everything together, then usually split up the work, swap pages, do a pass on each other’s work, rinse and repeat.

Holo Janeway contemplates the Living Construct

Follow Julie Benson and Shawna Benson on Twitter.

New episodes of  Prodigy  debut on Thursdays exclusively on  Paramount+  in the U.S., and on Fridays in Latin America and select countries in Europe. The series is also carried on SkyShowtime in the rest of Europe with the second half of season one expected to arrive in 2023.

Keep up with news about the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com .

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Interview: Wilson Cruz On Why ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 5 Was The Most Fun; Imagines ‘Academy’ Role

Good to get more of a look into the writers room.

And by the way, it sounds as though season one consultant and Trek Lit writer David Mack formed some kind of bond with the room. I’m just reading his new Vanguard/TOS novel now. He’s put Julie Benson at the helm and Aaron Watke as navigator on the 1701 bridge when Sulu and Chekhov are on an away mission. (Haven’t seen Shawna yet.)

Now, Mack has a track record of inviting people to be named and killed off in his books. I have some trepidation about their likely survival despite the gold shirts. (Julie is said to prefer the pants to the miniskirt.)

Thank you Laurie for this interview. Those were good questions and it’s no mystery or fluke why this show is so good; there’s a lot of substance behind the characters.

I think this interview sums up why Prodigy has become my favorite among all the new shows. How everything is so thought out and layered. And it pretty crazy both it and SNW did a body swap episode in their first seasons and they both worked beautifully IMO.

And I’m really liking how they are handling The Diviner. In the beginning, he came off like another mustache twirling villain who wanted to destroy the Federation for reasons (gee, that’s new). But then we learned why and it became more understandable. Still wrong, but he was trying to protect his planet. But then we got another interesting twist and he was originally fighting to become part of the Federation, not against it. So this is a villain with real nuance for a change. In the end, he decided it was better for his home to be whole and stable again instead of joining the Federation.

But I really love how well this show has honored Janeway. It’s gotten everything right about her. Sadly this show has done a much better job of Janeway’s portrayal than Picard’s in Picard IMO. I don’t hate how Picard is portrayed, but it does feel night and day to the original character but that’s probably all down to what Stewart wanted. But on this show, Janeway is still Janeway in every way that matters.

Anyway, Prodigy is an amazing show. It brings out the best of Star Trek nearly every episode. I hope this show goes at least 5 seasons.

Kate Mulgrew has embraced Janeway and owns her impact.

Patrick Stewart seems to never have understood why Picard was iconic and has been spending much of the past three decades trying to make him into a character he would rather be.

I’m sure that makes it easier to write Janeway as Janeway.

Agreed. The way Picard was handled in ST Picard indicates that. Picard was a stoic philosopher in TNG. The movies turned him into an action hero, and he was almost unrecognizable in STP.

I definitely agree with both you and Brent. And certainly nothing wrong to evolve the character, that’s usually a good thing. But I think what you said is true, he likes Picard obviously as a character overall, like what he stands for, etc, but I think he wanted someone more dashing, heroic, etc. I don’t think he really liked Picard being where everything is more underneath, but that’s why so many of us grew to love the character. He’s NOT Kirk. He does look at everything more through an intellectual lens. He gives off such a commanding presence and every time he talks, it carries weight, etc.

By the time we got to the movies, Picard had opened up a lot more, which again, is a good thing. I’m not faulting him for wanting more personality but he’s just so radically different now. The best example was the first season of the Picard show and in episode four when the guy beams down to Romulus to evacuate them in a summer suit lol. Is he there on an urgent mission or a vacation tour package? It’s so jarring to the old Picard who would probably sleep in is uniform if he had to. That basically told you Stewart had completely snuffed out Picard of old.

But there is some good news, listening to some of the people who has seen season 3 already, they make it clear he is much more Picard of old again like the show. I assume Matalas probably convinced him to play him that way again. How much, IDK, but that’s definitely a positive if true.

I suspect that Paramount wants a true TNG sequel and Matalas is doing his best to convince Kurtzman and the Paramount+ suits that he can get there via a final season of Picard.

This may be a ‘true farewell’ for the TNG cast, but it’s also a ten episode back door pilot for whatever Matalas has cooked up with Titan.

My current bet is Star Trek Titan, with some kind of Riker (played by Stashwick) as captain, Seven as first officer, a younger LaForge as bridge crew, and Admirals Riker and Janeway and assorted 90s legacy characters as regular guests.

And for those who say Stashwick (like Jason Issacs) someone we expect to be a villain, the fact that his character went from a 2 episode dystopian leader to an antihero over a few seasons suggests that Matalas has other plans.

Agree with all of this. Yeah they obviously want this season to feel a like true TNG sequel so it isn’t surprising Picard may finally feel and act more like Picard again.

They have said whatever the spin off idea is sounds like it will be a next next generation approach so I can definitely see a mixture of whatever new characters get introduced and probably some of those legacy characters too. And still crossing my fingers Janeway will show up next season too. And you’re probably right it will be based around the new Titan.

Even though (like many of us) I have been very mixed on Picard as a show, the best thing about it other than bringing back this era of Star Trek again is the potential for future shows and characters. That’s the great thing about Star Trek right now, anyone can be brought back as we are constantly seeing these days.

Yep. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. TNG’s Kirk is not Picard. It’s Riker. That’s IMO why it’s the first officer that always led the away missions and stuff while Picard stayed on the ship. Picard was much more of a philosopher and explorer which is ironic because he didn’t do a whole lot of exploring during TNG

Sadly true from what I have seen the past 3 years. When he took on Professor X he kind of left Picard behind and getting Picard back meant turning into Logan’s Picard. That was never going to work because that just isn’t who Picard is. Heck that really isn’t even who Prof X is either.

Screen Rant

Janeway's new ship vs. chakotay's: which star trek ship is faster.

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LOTR: Rings Of Power Season 3’s Status Reportedly Clarified After Season 2’s Ratings Decline

Tracker season 2 trailer: jensen ackles' return & colter's "weird" case revealed in first look, criminal minds: evolution season 3 adds first new character, details reveal clash with bau member.

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1, Episode 14 - "Crossroads" In Star Trek: Prodigy episode 14, Admiral Kathryn Janeway's (Kate Mulgrew) USS Dauntless raced the USS Protostar, which was formerly under the command of Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran). Janeway finally caught up with the alien teenagers who commandeered the Protostar on a frozen planet. But the Admiral doesn't realize that Dal R'El (Brett Gray), Gwyndala (Ella Purnell), and their friends - including Thadiun Okona (Billy Campbell) - are running from her because they can't expose Janeway's USS Dauntless to the Starfleet-destroying weapon the Diviner (John Noble) hid on the Protostar.

The Protostar fled the Dauntless at Warp 9.97 but Janeway's quantum slipstream-powered starship was able to keep pace. Unfortunately, the question of which starship is truly faster wasn't answered by Star Trek: Prodigy . After Murf (Dee Bradley Baker) accidentally fired upon the Dauntless, Janeway ordered her own photon torpedo to cripple the Protostar's third nacelle. This disabled the Protostar's ability to jump to Proto-Warp, which might have left the Dauntless its dust had it happened. Still, Hologram Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) cast doubt that the Protostar could escape Admiral Janeway's quantum slipstream Dauntless-class starship, so maybe the Protostar isn't faster even with the Proto-Drive ? It's a question Star Trek: Prodigy left open to hopefully answer in the future.

Related: Star Trek Confirms Voyager's Role In Janeway's New Ship

How Fast Is The Protostar's Proto Warp Vs. Janeway's Quantum Slipstream Drive?

Quantum slipstream drive technology was brought back to Starfleet from the Delta Quadrant by Captain Janeway and the USS Voygaer. Quantum slipstream technology was developed by Species 116, but it's similar to the transwarp technology used by the Borg. The quantum slipstream drive routes power through the main deflector, which opens up a quantum field. The phase variance in the quantum field had to be constantly adjusted, or it would collapse, but the quantum slipstream drive allows a starship to far exceed maximum warp. Using a version of quantum slipstream, the USS Voyager was able to shave 10 years off its journey home to Earth.

Theoretically, the Protostar could be faster than the Dauntless. The Protostar's Proto-Drive is powered by a baby star , hence the name USS Protostar. Contained in a gravity shell and equalized by a warp drive, the incredible power of the Proto-Core requires a third nacelle to jump the starship into Proto-Warp. Using the Proto-Drive, the Protostar can travel over four thousand light years in a few minutes. But each advanced warp drive has drawbacks. The Dauntless only has a limited form of quantum slipstream drive, while the Proto-Drive drains the Protostar's energy systems and requires an exotic matter dilithium matrix to function.

The Protostar Can Possibly Do One Thing Janeway's Dauntless Can't Do

Whether the Proto-Drive was intended to or not, it seemingly caused the USS Protostar to time travel. The Protostar was derelict on Tars Lamora for 17 years before it was launched in 2383, which means the starship somehow lost its crew and traveled back in time to 2366. Time travel is an apparent Proto-Drive side effect that the quantum slipstream drive of Admiral Janeway's USS Dauntless may not be able to duplicate. Of course, any starship can achieve time travel via the slingshot effect, but this requires a being of high intelligence (such as a Vulcan) to perform the necessary calculations to use a star's gravity to slingshot a starship through the time barrier. The Protostar's time travel may also provide the answer Janeway seeks as to what happened to Chakotay in Star Trek: Prodigy .

Next: Star Trek's Enterprise & Chakotay's Ship Have One Strange Thing In Common

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

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Published Dec 16, 2022

RECAP | Star Trek: Prodigy - Mindwalk

Desperate to warn Starfleet of their dilemma, a daring experiment goes awry as Dal inadvertently swaps minds with Vice Admiral Janeway!

StarTrek.com

SPOILER WARNING: This article contains story details and plot points for Episode 18 of Star Trek: Prodigy "Mindwalk."

Things don’t look good at the beginning of the latest episode of Star Trek: Prodigy , “Mindwalk.” The Protostar is on course for Federation space, thanks to Hologram Janeway’s mutinous secret algorithm. There’s nothing the crew can do to change that; the Living Construct has taken over the ship.

Hologram Janeway is clearly distraught by her betrayal of the crew and decides to take herself offline for the time being. If she doesn’t know what the crew is doing, she can’t sabotage them. The crew is clearly concerned, but they also have bigger things to worry about — the U.S.S. Dauntless , and the fact that it’s hailing them.

The Protostar automatically tries to evade the Dauntless by going to warp, presumably another tactic by the Living Construct. Aboard the Dauntless , Vice Admiral Janeway isn’t answering comms; she was incapacitated by Ensign Asencia. The Vau N’Akat stows the unconscious admiral with plans to place her combadge in Janeway's quarters and say that the admiral asked not to be disturbed.

Asencia arrives on the Bridge, back in her Trill disguise, just in time to see the Protostar jump to warp. The chase is on! The Dauntless merges their warp bubble into the Protostar ’s, which allows them to catch up and lock onto the ship with their weapons systems.

As the crew brainstorms how they might be able to communicate with the Dauntless without using their comm system, the other ship opens fire. Things are pretty dire, but Gwyn has an idea; maybe Zero can communicate with the admiral telepathically!

However, at their present range, they're unable to do it by themself. But, by working with Dal, who also possesses telepathic genes, it’s possible they might have a shot. As the ship is rocked by phaser fire, Zero leads Dal through a meditation to try to connect their minds and reach Vice Admiral Janeway. Suddenly, they’re knocked out thanks to a strong blast.

When Dal comes to, he sees Murf towering over him. Except it’s not Dal; it’s the admiral speaking through Dal. The situation gets even more complicated — Dal is trapped in Janeway’s body on the Dauntless. It’s clear there are going to be some hijinks.

Dal as Vice Admiral Janeway walks onto the Dauntless Bridge, and Asencia is shocked to see her. She’s nervous about being exposed for who she is and potentially delaying her sole mission. Fortunately for her, this Janeway — AKA Dal — has no memory of their encounter. Dal’s first order as the admiral is to cease firing on the Protostar , but to maintain pursuit of the ship.

Meanwhile, back on the Protostar , the crew has explained their plight to the real Janeway as she adjusts to being in Dal’s body. She realizes that they’ve been evading communication in order to protect Starfleet. She wants to help — and there lies the trouble. The only way she can do that is to return to the Dauntless , back in her own body, but it’s unclear how they're going to accomplish that.

Back on the Dauntless , Dal is struggling to maintain the ruse. Asencia knows there’s something wrong, and Dr. Noum has detected damage in Janeway’s cerebral cortex. Dal-as-Janeway announces that she’s going to take a nap. Asencia takes the opportunity to tell Commander Tysess, now at the helm, that the Protostar is heading for a restricted sector near the heart of Federation space. She manipulates Tysess into calling for backup. It’s going to be easier for the Living Construct to destroy Starfleet if there are more ships present when they finally make contact.

On the Protostar , Vice Admiral Janeway realizes that because Holo-Janeway is a non-essential program, she can reboot the program and remove the secret subroutine added in by the Construct. Not only does this restore Holo-Janeway’s program, but she's also able to recover her previous memories. Holo-Janeway remembers Chakotay and the Protostar ’s first crew and shows the admiral the remnants of their distress call. Unfortunately, she still doesn’t know the status of Chakotay and his crew following that call.

Rok-Tahk interrupts the Janeways to let them know that the crew has figured out a way to swap Dal and Vice Admiral Janeway back to their rightful bodies. The phaser blast acted as a conduit for the transfer of their consciousnesses. Their only opportunity to undo the mind swap is to initiate physical contact between Janeway and Dal. The trouble, however, is that the two ships are traveling at warp, and they have to somehow relay that message to Dal aboard the Dauntless.

They end up playing a game of charades to tell Dal he needs to put on a spacesuit and leave the ship. He gets the message, but Asencia and Tysess are waiting to escort the admiral to sickbay because of how strangely she’s been acting. Dal takes off running but is soon overpowered by the Dauntless security.

As the crew says goodbye to Vice Admiral Janeway, she breaks the news to Gwyn that because Dal will never be allowed to join Starfleet because he's an Augment. Though, at the moment, they have bigger problems — Dal is currently in restraints aboard the Dauntless . When he awakens, The Diviner is present. The Diviner confesses that he has mixed feelings given that the Dauntless crew has been so kind to him; but in the end, he must proceed with his mission.

However, in return for saving his life on Tars Lamora, The Diviner releases the restraints on the admiral. He asks that, if his mission fails, that she protect his daughter, Gwyndala. In a moment of honesty, Dal proclaims that he’d do anything to protect Gwyn.

Dal hurries to put on a pressure suit and escape the Dauntless , while Vice Admiral Janeway does the same on the Protostar . With his abilities, Murf acts as a tether to safely stretch Janeway towards Dal, but the Dauntless catches Dal in their tractor beam. Janeway quickly uses a phaser and fires a non-fatal shot at Dal in her body, hoping that the resulting energy will act as another conduit. The risky move works allowing the two to swap bodies once again.

Just as Dal arrives on the Bridge of the Protostar , the ship drops out of warp and there’s a huge fleet waiting for them. Unfortunately, it’s not clear whether Vice Admiral Janeway will be able to help them out of this...because her crew has detained her in the Brig.

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Swapna Krishna (she/her) writes about tech, science, and sci-fi. She’s a contributing editor at SYFY FANGRRLS and has been published at Engadget, Gizmodo, Mental Floss, the Los Angeles Times, and more. You can find her on Twitter @skrishna.

Star Trek: Prodigy will stream on Netflix globally (excluding Canada, Nordics, CEE, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Belarus and Mainland China) and Season 1 is currently available on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe with Season 2 coming soon. Season two has launched in France on France Televisions channels and Okoo.